Yuval Noah Harari: What explains the rise of humans?
Yuval Noah Harari: ¿Por qué los humanos gobiernan la Tierra?
In his book "Homo Deus," Yuval Noah Harari explores the future of humankind: the destinies we may set for ourselves and the quests we'll undertake. Full bio
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were insignificant animals.
eran animales insignificantes.
about prehistoric humans
se debe saber sobre los prehistóricos
much greater than that of jellyfish
mucho mayor que el de las medusas,
carpinteros.
we control this planet.
controlamos el planeta.
from insignificant apes,
simios insignificantes,
in a corner of Africa,
en un rincón de África,
between us and all the other animals
entre nosotros y otros animales
to a dog or a pig, or a chimpanzee.
a un cerdo o a un chimpancé.
on the individual level,
en el plano individual
to a chimpanzee.
a un chimpancé.
and put us together on some lonely island,
juntos a una isla desierta
to see who survives better,
para ver quién lo hace mejor,
on the chimpanzee, not on myself.
por el chimpancé y no por mí.
wrong with me personally.
personalmente.
of you, and placed you alone
a cualquiera de Uds.
and all other animals
y el resto de los animales
because they are the only animals
porque son los únicos animales
and in very large numbers.
y en masa.
the bees, the ants --
las abejas, las hormigas,
but they don't do so flexibly.
no lo hacen de un modo tan flexible.
in which a beehive can function.
básicamente de una forma.
or a new danger,
o un nuevo peligro,
the social system overnight.
el sistema social de la noche a la mañana.
execute the queen
ejecutar a la reina
of worker bees.
de abejas trabajadoras.
the dolphins, the chimpanzees --
los delfines, los chimpancés,
one of the other.
el conocimiento íntimo del otro.
tú eres otro chimpancé
cooperate with you?
cooperar contigo?
the two abilities together
las dos habilidades a la vez
and still do so in very large numbers
como en masa
diez contra diez,
mejores que nosotros.
against 1,000 chimpanzees,
contra mil chimpancés,
for the simple reason
por la simple razón
cannot cooperate at all.
no pueden cooperar en absoluto.
100,000 chimpanzees
a 100 mil chimpancés
or into Wembley Stadium,
o en el Vaticano,
el caos más absoluto.
with 100,000 chimpanzees.
con 100 mil chimpancés.
gather there in tens of thousands,
concentrarse allí por decenas de miles,
and effective networks of cooperation.
cooperación sofisticadas y eficaces.
of humankind throughout history,
de la historia de la humanidad,
or flying to the moon,
hasta viajar a la Luna,
on individual abilities,
en habilidades individuales
flexibly in large numbers.
en masa de forma flexible.
that I'm giving now:
que estoy dando ahora,
of about 300 or 400 people,
de unas 300 o 400 personas,
son desconocidos para mí.
all the people who have organized
a toda la gente que ha organizado
and the crew members of the plane
de la tripulación del avión
yesterday, to London.
who invented and manufactured
que inventó y fabricó
which are recording what I'm saying.
que graban lo que estoy diciendo.
who wrote all the books and articles
escribieron todos los libros y artículos
a todas las personas
over the Internet,
esta charla en Internet,
o en Nueva Delhi.
we don't know each other,
aunque no nos conocemos,
this global exchange of ideas.
este intercambio mundial de ideas.
no pueden hacer.
traveling to some distant chimpanzee band
hasta un grupo distante de chimpancés
or about elephants,
sobre bananas o elefantes,
interest chimpanzees.
pueda interesar a los chimpancés.
not always nice;
para bien, por supuesto.
have been doing throughout history --
hemos hecho a lo largo de la historia,
some very horrible things --
verdaderamente horribles,
on large-scale cooperation.
en la cooperación a gran escala.
de cooperación;
of cooperation;
de cooperación;
are a system of cooperation.
son un sistema de cooperación.
and prisons and concentration camps.
ni prisiones ni campos de concentración.
to convince you perhaps that yes,
convencerles de que sí,
cooperate flexibly in large numbers.
cooperar flexiblemente en masa.
inmediatamente
to cooperate in such a way?
que solo nosotros cooperamos así?
with countless numbers of strangers,
con infinidad de desconocidos
the animals on the planet,
los animales del planeta,
fictional stories.
historias de ficción.
in the same fiction,
en la misma fábula, entonces
the same rules,
their communication system
sistema de comunicación
There's a lion, let's run away!"
Un león ¡huyamos!"
over there! Let's go and get bananas!"
¡Vayamos a por unas bananas!"
not merely to describe reality,
no solo para describir la realidad
fictional realities.
realidades inventadas.
there is a god above the clouds!
"¡Existe un dios en el cielo!
and send you to hell."
te castigará e irás al infierno."
that I've invented,
que acabo de inventar,
norms and laws and values,
las mismas leyes y los mismos valores
podemos hacer.
to give you a banana
para que les dé una banana
you'll go to chimpanzee heaven ..."
al cielo de los chimpancés..."
of bananas for your good deeds.
por tus buenas acciones.
believe such a story.
in zoos and research laboratories.
y en laboratorios de investigación.
by believing in the same fictions.
creyendo en las mismas fábulas.
to build a cathedral or a mosque
una catedral o una mezquita
they all believe in the same stories
porque creen en las mismas historias
is that exactly the same mechanism
ese mismo mecanismo
of mass-scale human cooperation,
cooperación humana en masa,
are based on a belief in human rights.
se basan en los derechos humanos.
are just a story that we've invented.
son simples historias inventadas.
about homo sapiens.
del Homo sapiens.
cut him open, look inside,
neurons, hormones, DNA,
neuronas, hormonas, ADN,
are in the stories
derechos es en las historias
over the last few centuries.
por todas partes en los últimos siglos.
very good stories,
muy buenas historias,
that we've invented.
que hemos inventado.
de la política.
in modern politics are states and nations.
moderna son los estados y los países.
you can ever smell it.
que hemos inventado
con fuerza.
in the global economy
en la economía mundial
for a corporation,
para alguna corporación,
ficciones jurídicas.
a los que llamamos abogados.
it has no objective value.
objetiva, no tiene un valor objetivo.
el dólar.
of paper, the dollar bill.
these master storytellers --
cuentacuentos profesionales,
muy convincente;
whom I've never met before,
a quién nunca he visto antes,
que puedo comer.
which I can actually eat.
con los chimpancés.
intercambian cosas:
I'll give you a banana."
a worthless piece of paper
de papel inservible
the most successful story
más exitosa
everybody believes.
que todo el mundo cree.
and in the dollar bill.
y en el dólar.
and American religion
la religión estadounidense
to American dollars.
con los dólares de allí.
because we live in a dual reality.
porque vivimos en una realidad dual.
in an objective reality.
realidad objetiva.
of objective entities,
en entidades objetivas,
o leones y elefantes.
and lions and elephants.
in an objective reality.
vivimos en una realidad objetiva.
and trees and lions and elephants.
y árboles y leones y elefantes.
realidad objetiva
of this objective reality
imaginaria,
entidades imaginarias,
like money, like corporations.
corporaciones.
as history unfolded,
que se desarrollaba la historia,
more and more powerful
más y más poder,
forces in the world
del mundo
and trees and lions and elephants
y de los árboles, leones y elefantes
of fictional entities,
de las entidades imaginarias,
like the World Bank --
el Banco Mundial,
in our own imagination.
en nuestra imaginación.
a new book out.
escribiste otro,
pero aún no se ha traducido al...
yet translated into ...
traducción ahora mismo.
the translation as we speak.
understand it correctly,
that we are experiencing right now
que estamos viviendo ahora mismo
make our lives better,
con seguridad,
just as the industrial revolution did."
que ocurrió en la revolución industrial".
of the urban proletariat.
el proletariado urbano.
history of the last 200 years involved
de los últimos 200 años implicaba
and the new problems and opportunities.
problemas y oportunidades.
massive class of useless people.
clase multitudinaria de gente inútil.
in more and more fields,
mejoran en más y más campos
computers will out-perform us
las computadoras nos superen
humans redundant.
y los humanos sobraremos.
and economic question
política y económica
so many humans for?"
a tantos humanos?
es tenerlos contentos
we have is to keep them happy
like a very appealing future.
un futuro muy atractivo.
in the book and now,
¿lo que dices en el libro, y ahora,
about the growing evidence
we are just kind of at the beginning
es que estamos más o menos
no es una profecía,
of possibilities before us.
que tenemos delante.
of a new massive class of useless people.
clase social ingente de gente inútil.
a la humanidad
the division of humankind
de dioses virtuales,
into virtual gods,
to this level of useless people.
de gente inútil.
en un año o dos.
coming up in a year or two.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Yuval Noah Harari - Historian, authorIn his book "Homo Deus," Yuval Noah Harari explores the future of humankind: the destinies we may set for ourselves and the quests we'll undertake.
Why you should listen
In his book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, Yuval Noah Harari explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the 21st century -- from overcoming death to creating artificial life. He maps the future and asks fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? How will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? The book has sold four million copies since its publication in 2016.
Harari's previous book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, explores what made homo sapiens the most successful species on the planet. His answer: We are the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in our imagination, such as gods, states, money, human rights, corporations and other fictions, and we have developed a unique ability to use these stories to unify and organize groups and ensure cooperation. Sapiens has sold eight million copies and been translated into more than 50 languages. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and President Barack Obama have recommended it as a must-read.
Harari lectures as a Professor of history at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he specializes in world history, medieval history and military history. His current research focuses on macro-historical questions: What is the relationship between history and biology? What is the essential difference between Homo sapiens and other animals? Is there justice in history? Does history have a direction? Did people become happier as history unfolded? Harari has written for newspapers such as The Guardian, Financial Times, the Times, Nature magazine and the Wall Street Journal.
Harari's new book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, will take the pulse of our current global climate, focusing on the biggest questions of the present moment: What is really happening right now? What are today’s greatest challenges and choices? What should we pay attention to? The book will be published in multiple languages in September 2018.
Yuval Noah Harari | Speaker | TED.com